Does any one use this machine at all? I am thinking of purchasing one for a nice cheap price (normally about $3000 and I'm getting it for $700) , but I'd like to know more about it prior to buying it. It is an old machine and I am having a hard time locating the appropriate software for the machine (pc designer?). I want to design my own embroidary for it, which is why I need the software, but is it a wise purchase if the accessories are kind of hard to come by? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

This was a project a friend wanted me to do for her. She drives an old VW and goes to a lot of car shows, so she wanted a purse to show her s#*t off even more. It was an enormous pain to make, who knew round things would be so hard to sew?! The hubcap is actually bolted on to the purse. The outside of the purse is duck cloth, a heavy canvas, and the inside is some nice patterned cotton. What do you think? Sorry about some of the blurry pictures.

I did this painting for my husband for our anniversary. Call me a hopeless romantic...just kidding. My husband is sort of a gore fan, so I wanted to do something he would like to hang up, as well as displaying my love for him (thus giving him my heart, granted it's still in my hand). It was done on clay board with oil paint.

This is one of the purses I've made way too many of (I have been selling them for a while and am burnt out temporarily). It is made out of a Oujia board (thus the name) and pleather, with a duck cloth interior. I don't have a tutorial, I haven't made one since I joined craftster, so never took pictures.

I had no idea that there was a sectiion for art beyond crafts. I never even paged down on the home page to see everything. I love it. This is a couple of my recent completions. I'm working on putting a show together that revolves around women and what we (society) view as beautiful. This is the tragic beauty, Mata Hari, and an emotionally confusing painting of a geisha. They are both done in oil.

I am trying to be conservative with money this x-mas, so I decided to make the gals in my family and my girlfriends brooches for their presents. It's nice because each one reflects part of their personality and they are cheap, just a little time consuming. I used wood that my brother-in-law cut for me (he goes to school for wood working and cut it for free for his grades). As for paint I used good old acrylic, just watered down and in a lot of layers (other wise it dries too quickly and gets uneven and clumpy). Then I sealed them with a high gloss sealant meant for painting. I gorilla glued pins on the back of them (gorilla glue is the best for hold) and voila! Hand painted brooches.

I don't know about you crafsters out there, but I have a ton of concert T's that just plain don't look good anymore. It's so hard to find good ones for women. Mine are all either too big (from when they only have mens), too short at the waist (no more belly button's please) or too tight of a cuff sleeve(I have grown a little since buying these ones). I have been brain storming on some ideas for them so I can still support the bands I love, and thought I must not be the only gal in this situation. What do you think?

I hate computers. This is now my 4th try to post this. After 2 times just doing it wrong, the third time was ready to go and my internet kicked me out!!! Making me crazy. So anyway, here is my entry. It is made out of screens for a kitchen/bathroom tap. I used gorilla glue and a glue gun, patina and a pin. I am sorry I don't have a step by step, but it was very unorganized getting to the finished product (trial and error). So, hopefully this post will be successful and you will be looking at images below. Enjoy.

days later...

Ok, I had to add this. This pin is a little freyed on the edges, and kind of sticks to sweaters, so I think it works much better as a hat pin. I actually wore it on a sweater, but my coat kept sticking to it. So, here's a little honesty, doesn't work so well as a brooch, better as a hat pin.I added another picture below.